A new study is the first to map changes to specific gut bacteria based on interactions between human microbes and insect-killing chemicals observed in the lab and an animal model. The analysis showed that over a dozen pesticides influence human gut bacteria growth patterns, affect how gut microorganisms process nutrients and camp out inside some bacteria. Experiments in mice showed that one gut bacteria species provides some protection against pesticide toxicity, hinting at the possibility for a probiotic approach to preventing some of their damaging health effects.

Peking University, June 27, 2025: To overcome the inherent challenge of translation termination interference caused by stop codon reprogramming in mammalian cells, researchers from Peking University led by Chen Peng from College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering and Yi Chengqi from School of Life Sciences have developed a novel codon expansion strategy that enables precise incorporation of noncanonical amino acids (ncAAs) without perturbing natural genetic codes. This innovative approach utilizes post-transcriptionally modified RNA codons—distinct from all 64 standard genetic codons—within targeted transcripts to encode ncAAs in mammalian systems. This work establishes a versatile platform for expanding the genetic code in mammalian cells, paving the way for advanced protein engineering and functional studies in complex biological systems. These findings were published in Nature on June 25, 2025, under the title "RNA codon expansion via programmable pseudouridine editing and decoding."

Addressing the challenge of waste plastics treatments, the scientific community has been pursuing innovative solutions. Recently, Peking University researchers led by Ma Ding from College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, in collaboration with Xu Shutao from Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, uncovered how complex plastic mixtures can be utilized based on the differences in the physical and chemical properties of the components with the aids of NMR technique and catalytic approaches. This work provides a new treatment strategy for recovering real-life plastics and maximizing their potential as raw materials. Their findings, entitled “In-line NMR Guided Orthogonal Transformation of Real-life Plastics,” were published in Nature on June 25, 2025.

Researchers at University of Tsukuba were successful in developing a method that considerably reduces the hole density of polycrystalline germanium (Ge) thin films used in semiconductor devices. They discovered that hydrogen treatment following the fabrication of high-quality polycrystalline Ge thin films markedly reduces the hole density. Moreover, subsequent low-temperature annealing effectively restores hydrogen-induced surface damage and further decreases the hole density.